This is a very useful book on knots. It is truly the knot bible.

Unfortunately, however, this is the 1993 version and contains corrected material that are still protected under the copyright laws. To the reviewer who claimed that this book is in public domain, you are wrong. The Internet Archive contains much material, including game source codes that were stolen from game software companies, that are illegal to distribute. (Regarding the stolen source code, you need to know how to look for them in the IA because the uploaders used "special" words that are recognizable only by those who know what the stolen files represent.) I've also seen books (including proprietary material stolen from private corporations that have words like "proprietary" or "confidential" marked in them) posted in IA that were published within the past couple of decades and thus are still copyrighted. So this says that the IA simply does not have the resources to go through every uploaded file and delete the ones that are not legal to download. There are simply too many of them for any single individual like me to report them to IA for deletion. Just trying to report them to the IA would be a full-time job.

As for this Ashley book, for it to be truly in the public domain, it needs to be the original 1944 version, the one that has errors that the 1993 version corrected. However, there is also the possibility that the copyright owner may have given the permission for the 1993 version of the book to be available via the IA, without releasing the book into the public domain, but I don't know how IA would be able to know this without contacting the copyright owner.

All I can say is a simple, but heart-felt Thank You, for sharing this with us all.

I loved reading "knot books" when I first started sailing. Sailing of course is no requisite for studying knots! or "bends"....

This is a lovely book written by a lovely man who cared enough about the world to share this work, which took him at least eleven years to create.

PS- this title surely IS in public domain, so- the comment from the "public domain police" is unnecessary. If in the case a copyrighted file is in the Archive by mistake, it will quickly be removed.

The copyright laws in the USA say that a work enters public domain 70 years after the death of the author. Mr. Ashley died in 1947, so it is plausible that it would enter public domain this year. But, it was posted last year. And, the copyright notice is from an edition with amended material dated 1993.

Is this truly public domain?

The Necessary requirement Encyclopedia of Knots for all Seafarers... in order to Survive.